P&G puts $10M behind new Ariel

[Schwalbach, Germany] Procter & Gamble Co. is backing a new fiber-strengthening ingredient in Ariel detergent with a $10 million TV and print campaign in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to introduce Ariel Color & Style. A spot showing clothing stretched out of shape then springing back after being washed was created by Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi, Paris, when the product was test marketed in France two years ago. Ads were adapted and print work developed by Saatchi's Frankfurt office. In a promotion with Hamburg-based mail-order house Otto, each Otto catalog contains Ariel Color & Style coupons, and customers who order bedding from the catalog are also sent a trial bottle of the detergent. P&G's free magazine For Me, sent to two million German households, contains a lengthy article about Ariel Color & Style.